Monday, November 28, 2016

Well this week was awesome! We got transfer calls this Friday and theywere surprising! Haha so I will be going back to the Samoan ward inanchorage! Haha a different one though so that's good! My companionwill be elder chan and he is awesome! He just finished his training sohe's pretty new! But it will be exciting to go back to anchorage andeat golden carol every night again! Haha but it is sad to leave kodiakfor sure! I have come to love so many of the people here! I'm sograteful for the opportunity to serve here and help the work here! ButI am excited to serve around other missionaries again. It will be funto play ball with everyone again!

This week in kodiak we did so much service! We did some service forsomeone everyday this week! We got to move a dresser, do some yardwork, cut some pipe, move some couches, desks, and tables! Haha it wascrazy! We definitely got our exercise in this week! Haha!

Thanksgiving was awesome this week! We got to spend time with tons ofdifferent families and lots of food! And played some ping pong! Haha

Sorry I didn't have a lot of time this week to email because we flyout this morning to anchorage but I'm grateful for all you guys andeverything you do for me!

Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Well this week was pretty good! It was rainy pretty much everyday thisweek but I will take it instead of snow! Haha well Monday for p day wepretty much played basketball the whole time and we actually had interviewsthat night! And for all you who are wondering how that happens if weare on an island.... well we FaceTime president! Haha it takes somegetting used to but it's cool! They went really awesome!

This week we had tons of opportunities to help people move so weworked off our dinners pretty well! It's funny because there's a lotof people who aren't members but have our number laying around so ifthey need something moved they give us a call! So it pretty usefulthat we have a truck out here! Haha but it was great opportunity toserve!

We did lots of dock tracting this week! Salmon season just ended soall the big boats are in and they are working on them getting themready to go back out do some other kinds of fishing and crab! So wegot to talk to a bunch a people and even check out some big boats sothat was pretty cool! It's funny because the fisherman are some of theroughest looking people but they are some of the nicest I've ever met!

We did some service on Saturday and helped the Rices patch a hole inthere bathroom under the electrical panel! We were there for dinnerFriday night and they asked if we had any experience doing drywallbecause they needed help doing that in the bathroom. (They are areally old couple). But I said I do a little and that we could do it!So we did it and they were super impressed and said it looked awesomeand that it looked like I knew what I was doing! So that was a relief!Haha (Thank you dad for teaching me! Little did I know those skillswould come in handy on the mission) then we moved some gravel forthem! Brother rice is the fire chief and so he took us over to helphim with something at the station and gave us a tour and showed useverything on the trucks! I even got to sit in one! I felt like a kidagain! It was awesome! Haha

Liza is doing good! So she couldn't meet with us on our usual Thursdayappointment with her but she did some of the ARP book so that wasawesome! Saturday we got to see her for a minute and see how she'sdoing and she's doing good! Her friend was there and she loved uscoming to see her and thought it was awesome we were helping herovercome her addiction! So we got the friends approval so that'sgood!! Haha and Malinda we didn't get to have a lesson! She was busyall week with different things but we have an appointment Wednesday sothat's good!

On Sunday, Farani (our only Samoan investigator) came to church forthe first time ever so that was really awesome! He really liked it andso hopefully we can have an awesome lesson with him this week!

During my studies on Sunday morning I came across this awesome line inAlma 37:46 and thought it was so awesome and that I should share itwith you all,

"The way is prepared, and if we will look we may live forever"

Well that was my week in a nutshell! I hope you all had a great weekand I'm glad we made it through elections!

Monday, November 7, 2016

Well this week was good! First flat tire of the mission this week also! We went out today to a flat tire in the pouring rain so we had a fun time this morning changing it! Haha

We got to do a little bit of service this week. We helped the Long family take some stuff they needed to get rid of the thrift store. They are an older couple and awesome family and the wife has had a lot of medical issues and they said she doesn't have to much longer so they are moving down to Utah where all their family is and they plan on buying motor home and traveling around with what time she has left. It's so cool because they are going through so much and they are still optimistic through it all!

We had a lesson with Malinda this week and it went really good. We decided it would be best if we read the Book of Mormon with her for the lesson and so we did and we didn't know if she had really been reading but to our surprise she was already at Jacob 5! Crazy awesome! So we got to read the super wonderful and long chapter of the allegory tree! Haha but it was really good and she is learning so much and is doing awesome!

We had an awesome lesson with Liza this week too! We didn't have any idea what to teach her so we looked over everything taught to her and we decided to introduce her to the Addiction Recovery Program and it went awesome! We did a little preview of it with her and showed her the step 1 video and she wants to do it! We committed that we would do it with her! So it will be really cool to get familiar with it! We are now trying to find people in the Ward to help us teach and help her with it! But she is making progress which is a good thing!

Friday we had zone meeting and it went really good! President actually came to it and we got introduced to the new Christmas initiative video and got the new pass along cards. Overall it went really good and it's still fun to video conference into them! Haha

Saturday there was a YSA activity that we got to go to and it was really cool! Just so ya know there's on 5 YSA here in kodiak so it's pretty small! But we went shooting!!.. well they went shooting and we just watched lol! But it was pretty fun! And super cold! Haha

This weekend was actually stake conference too! It was really cool. The whole overall theme seemed to be teaching the saviors way. It was really cool because of course if was directed to everyone and especially the teachers in the stake, but it was cool to because what do missionaries do all day?.... TEACH! I feel like I got so much out of it and who better to study the teachings of than the best teacher to walk the earth?! And that it doesn't matter if we have a calling to teach or not, we are all witnesses and take is name upon us!

Well that was my week in a nutshell! Good luck to everyone this week with the most stressful week of the year! ELECTIONS! Thanks for everything you all do for me! I love you all!

Happy Halloween! If anyone knows where the origins of Halloween come from feel free to let me know! Haha this week was awesome and full of miracles!

So we have a new investigator that is on a baptismal date!!!! Malinda is an older lady who was in the women's shelter and the missionaries helped the shelter out with something one day and met her. But they couldn't teach her there. She had a stroke a bit ago and has gone through a lot in her life. She just got moved into a new apartment and the sheltered had called us and asked if we could pick some stuff up and drop it off at an apartment for them. And it was Malinda! This was a couple weeks ago and then this week we had a lesson with her and it went awesome! She loved and believed everything we taught her. She accepted the invitation to be baptized on November 26th! So that's pretty cool! We went back again on Thursday and had a plan of salvation lesson with her and a member from our Ward and it went really good too. She even read some of the Book of Mormon! She's awesome and it's so cool how she was put in our path!

We did a lot of tracting and dock tracting and it was actually really fun! We had some good times and got to talk to a lot of guys at the docks that had been all over their world in their boats. Weirdly enough the guys at the docks are the coolest!

Friday was pretty cool! We were going to teach Liza but we had the feeling to go try some else really quick before to drop something off and then we went to Liza's and it was so cool because we caught her right before she was walking out her back porch to smoke! The lord knows what time we need to be places!! We really wanted to focus on the priesthood and giving her a blessing to overcome her addictions and I got the opportunity to give her a blessing and it went really good! She has stopped drinking alcohol which is a good start! But it was such a cool lesson with her! After we went to our dinner which was with the barco family and they are really less active but love to feed us and sister barco had her friend over who wasn't a member and she was going through a lot and didn't know if she was going to have a miscarriage or not so sister barco asked if we could give a blessing to non members and we said of course we can! So we had a quick little lesson about the priesthood and asked who she would like to give it and she said me! So I got the opportunity to give 2 blessings Friday night! It was so cool! I told elder lee he is taking the next 2 now haha!

On Saturday we were at the martins house with a lot of the members and we shot arrows at pumpkins! Haha it was super fun with lots of good food!

Sunday was the primary program at sacrament meeting and it was awesome! I think it was the most people I had ever seen come! We got to meet a lot of new people! Sadly Liza and Malinda didn't come which was a bummer but we will work on getting them to come this next week!

"Opposition permits us to grow toward what our Heavenly Father would have us become."

D&C 122:7

Through all mortal opposition, we have God’s assurance that He will “consecrate [our] afflictions for [our] gain” (2 Nephi 2:2).